One of the more confusing matters, for employees and HR people alike, is the computation of holiday pay, complicated by the fact that there are different “kinds” of holidays. This is cleared by Memorandum Circular No. 1 of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the full text of which is reproduced and discussed below.

MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 01
(8 March 2004)

Pursuant to the provisions of the Labor Code, as amended in relation to the observance of declared holidays and in response to the queries received every time a Presidential Proclamation or a law is enacted by Congress which declares certain days either as a regular holiday, a special day or a special working holiday, the following guidelines shall be observed by all employers in the private sector:

1. For regular holidays as provided for under EO 203 (incorporated in EO 292) as amended by RA 9177:

New Year’s Day – January 1
Maundy Thursday – Movable Date
Good Friday – Movable Date
Araw ng Kagitingan – April 9
Labor Day – May 1
Independence Day – June 12
National Heroes Day- Last Sunday of August
Bonifacio Day – November 30
Eidul Fitr – Movable Date
Christmas Day – December 25
Rizal Day – December 30

the following rules shall apply:

1. If it is an employee’s regular workday

* If unworked – 100%
* If worked

1st 8 hours – 200%

excess of 8 hours – plus 30% of hourly rate on said day

2. If it is an employee’s rest day

* If unworked – 100%
* If worked

1st 8 hours – plus 30% of 200%

excess of 8 hours – plus 30% of hourly rate on said day

2. For declared special days such as Special Non-Working Day, Special Public Holiday, Special National Holiday, in addition to the two (2) nationwide special days (November 1, All Saints Day and December 31, Last Day of the Year) listed under EO 203, as amended, the following rules shall apply:

1. If unworked

* No pay, unless there is a favorable company policy, practice or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) granting payment of wages on special days even if unworked.

3. For those declared as special working holidays, the following rules shall apply:

For work performed, an employee is entitled only to his basic rate. No premium pay is required since work performed on said days is considered work on ordinary working days.

Please be guided accordingly.

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Note: If you still don’t know it yet, one of the more helpful government websites is that of the DOLE. It boasts of useful features such as the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and, to my delight, a fully functional email-query system.

To test the email-query system, I sent a query regarding holiday pay for regular holidays falling on the employee’s rest day (in this case, 29 April 2006, Araw ng Kagitingan). In an hour or so, I received a reply. Here’s my e-mail:

Gentlemen:

I write in connection with DOLE Memorandum Circular No. 01, which provides a summary of an employee’s entitlement to holiday pay for regular, special working and special non-working holidays.

As stated in said Circular, if a regular holiday falls on an employee’s rest day and it is UNWORKED, the employee receives 100% of his/her daily salary. This, however, has caused confusion because some MONTHLY-paid employees believe that they are entitled to an additional payment of one day. This is exacerbated by the news item which appeared on 7 April 2006 on your website (“DOLE issues Araw ng Kagitingan pay rules“), which states that “[i]f the day falls on an employee’s rest day and is unworked, he or she is paid on that day. xxx” Kindly clarify that there should be a distinction between monthly-paid and daily-paid employees, as the former is deemed paid for the entire month, even on regular holidays.

Your usual prompt action on this matter is highly appreciated.

Here’s the reply:

Dear Mr. Pamaos:

Good afternoon.

Anent your query, MONTHLY PAID EMPLOYEE refers to one who is paid his wage or salary for every day of the month, including rest days, Sundays, regular or special days, although he does not regularly work on these days.

DAILY PAID EMPLOYEE refers to one who is paid his wage or salary only on the days he actually worked, except in cases of regular holidays wherein he is paid his wage or salary even if he does not work during those days, provided that he is present or on leave of absence with pay on the working day immediately preceding the regular holiday.

As distinguished from monthly-paid employees who are assured of being paid for every day of the month, the provision of the Labor Code on holiday pay is principally intended to benefit a daily-paid employee who is normally bound by the principle of “no work no pay”. Before the advent of the Labor Code, they are not paid for unworked regular holidays.

We hope that this answers your query.

Please be informed that our opinion on the matter is strictly advisory and may not be invoked in any court of law or before any administrative body.

Thank you for writing.

Legal Service, DOLE

By the way, please note that the opinion contained in the reply is merely “advisory” and, for one reason or another, you may not necessarily agree that it’s correct.

Nevertheless, credit must be given where it is due. Congratulations to the DOLE’s electronic portal team.

30 Responses to “Computation of pay for holidays: Regular, special non-working, special working”

Sir, i just to ask if there is an exact standard on how should the salary be counted, because i’m a bit confused with it comes on the counting of salary to be paid.

Ex: my previous company was counting our salary according to the number of days that we have worked enclosed within the period of 1-15 days..

While my current company have what they called “cut off period” where in they counted 15 days continuously (most of the time a week advance and we will get the pay day at the 15th) including Sunday (which is our rest day) Kinda weird and confused.

Hello there! I have a query on the computation of holiday pay. I work in a call center company. My friend who also works in a call center told me that if a regular holiday is worked and it falls on his rest day, he will be given +250% on top of his daily rate.

Let’s take this as an example.
My daily rate, say, is Php500.00. Dec 25 is a regular holiday. I worked on that day even if it’s my rest day. Should I be given +250% of my daily rate which is equivalent to Php1,250.00? What if it’s a special holiday, how much would be the pay for the day?

Hello Attorney,
I am a monthly paid and regular employee, Our company just release this policy that the employee is not entitled for a holiday pay if he/she didnt show-up before the day of the regular or legal holiday. The situation is like this, I wasnt able to work before the day of the Legal holiday because I am sick. The President declared Labor day to move this Monday which is May 3, so this means that the legal holiday falls on May 3 (Monday)and Saturday is our regular working day (May 1), this day is our critical working days so either the employee is sick or not, is required to work or if will provide a medical certificate and this day I wasnt able to show-up at work and had called the office. Is there any rule in labor code that if the employee dont work before the day of legal holiday or any holidays is not entitled to get paid? Please give your insights to this I am really confused. Thank you and more powers!

hi i am a daily paid employee who is working Mondays to Saturdays. My only rest day is Sunday. What if i worked on my rest day, is there any additional percentage on my salary for that day?
thanks… i learned a lot..

I am an I.T. Consultant. My contract was recently renewed to a company I have been with for years now. However, I was told that there will be no holiday pay for me anymore. I am paid every month for a fixed salary. I am considered a Contractor since I am not a regular employee of the company. I don’t have paid leaves too (but this is acceptable because I am a contractor). My daily rate is computed as monthly rate divided by 21.8333. Given this computation, I can tell that I should get paid for holidays.

In my contract, there was no stipulation that I won’t get paid for holidays. They only advised me of this policy verbally.

I have a couple of questions:
1. Is the policy binding even if I was only told verbally and not stipulated in my contract?
2. Can the company legally do that (i.e. not pay me for holidays)? Is it their right?

Yes they are provided that they work on the preceding day before the holiday. Except if there is an existing CBA or agreement between parties.

@ razimatazi

No holiday pay will re paid at any day, even if you are a regular employee. Meaning, even regular holidays will not be paid except if there is existing CBA agreement. Why? Because your leave has no pay.

@ Vinz825

Yes, you are entitled to a holiday pay from 12:00am to 8:00am of April 6 and 11pm to 12:00 Midnight of April 6 as well.

what if a regular, monthly paid employee files for leave of absence WITHOUT pay before a long holiday(comprised of regular and special non-working holiday) regular holidays shall be paid but will they be covered or exempted from special non- holiday pay? Thanks!

Greetings! I just want to ask if I’m entitled to holiday pay? I’m working as a school/hotel MD. I’m being paid per hourly basis, my contract states that im being paid a retainer fee of P150/hr, 5hours, Monday-Saturday, on no work no-pay basis.However, the school ordered us to go on duty during holidays, typhoons and any fortuitious events but they said that we are not entitled for holiday pay since our contract states that we are being paid on retainer basis of 150/hr; but in our contract it is not stated that we will go on duty even on holidays and said events.Do i have a legal claim on this? More Power and Thank’s!